Process for gasifying liquid fuels



Dec- 20, 1932 G. L. RlcHHl-:LM

PROCESS FOR GAvSIFYING LIQUID FUELS Filed Aug. 15. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet lGeorge Z De- 20, 1932 G. l.. RElcHHELM PROCESS FOR GASIFYING LIQUIDFUELS Filed Aug. `l5. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 20, 1932.UNITED sTATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE L. REIGHHELM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,ASSIGNOR TO THE GASIFIER mm, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION 0FNEW JERSEY raoul-:ss Fon. GASIFYING LIQUID FUELS Application led August15, 1921. Serial No. 492,237.

The present invention relates to gasificae tion of liquid fuels.

More particularly, the present invention relates to process forconverting low grade fuels, such as heavy fuel oil, into a light, highlycombustible gas. Various devices have been designed for gasifying lowgrade fuel oil, some of which operate upon the principle of causing theoil to-be separated, vaporized or broken up into globules, supplied withair and projected against a hot surface. The globules referred to arethereby supplied with sufficient heat to still more finely divide themresulting in a more or less combustible mixture. Devices of this sorthave been open to objections for the reason that they are wasteful ofoil, require a large space, entail a large loss of energy and causedeposits of carbon.

An object of the present invention is to provide a process for gasifyingliquid fuels in which the characteristics of the gas may be readilycontrolled.

A further object is to provide an improved process which will convertliquidt fuel into a .fixed gas, whereby said gas may be distributedthrough pipe, tubes or manifolds without condensation.

A further object is to convert the fuel into a fixed gas which may besupplied with the proper amount of air at any desired distance from thegasiiier and united in complete combustion.

35 A further object is to provide an improved process for converting lowgrade fuel into proper form for use in internal combustion engines orgas turbines.

A further object is to provide a method for converting low grade liquidfuel into a gas which will mix very readily with air and thereforepermit combustion in a minimum of space.

A further object is to provide an improved 45 gasifying process forfractionally distilling an oil fuel in which the degree to which thefuel may be fractionated may be readily controlled.

A further object is to provide an improved process for gasifying lowgrade fuel in which part of said fuel is used for generating the heatfor gasifying the remainder thereof.

A further object is to provide a process for converting low grade fuelinto a gas without the deposit of carbon.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is an elevational view showing one embodiment of the presentinvention.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation taken along the line 2 2 of Figure 1,showing certain details of the regulating mechanism according to thepresent invention.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view illustrating the combustionchamber and parts adjacent thereto.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken the line 4 4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view in elevationl of the apparatus.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along the line 6 6 of Figure 3.

In order to provide a perspective of the invention, it may be statedbriefly that oil or other liquid fuel is subjected to air and with theair preferably under pressure projected in an atomized'state into acombustion chamber. Said fuel is preferabl caused t0 take a curved orswirling motion yI means of oxygen bearing jets of iiuid, preferablyair. The fuel is thereby prevented from impingin directly upon the wallof the chamber an at the same time a regulable supply of air isprovided.- During this swirling movement, there is a very thoroughmixture of air with'` the superficial portion of the stream of va'-porized oil and air and there is combustion at a high temperaturewhichvaporizes the oil. According to the structure illustrated, theintimate mixture of air and oil vapor is directed into a. superheatingchamber where 90 66 along partI lof further combustion raises themixture to an extremely high temperature, completely gasifying the fueland fixing said gas, whereby same will not condense when subsequentlypassed into a cooler container. l Briefly stated the oil is successivelyatomized, vaporized and gasified.

Referring first to Figures 1, 3 and 6, the numeral 10 indicates a drumhaving a pair of side walls 11 and 12 and a circular band 13. Mountedwithin said drum isa housing 14 of novel conformation, which housing isillustrated as being integral with the side wall 11. It is within thishousing 14 that the fuel is gasiied and fixed in gaseous condition. Saidhousing 14 comprises a combustion chamber 15, a secondary orsuperheating chamber 16 and a portion 17 provided with a baille wall 18to provide a tortuous passage, the functions of which will be describedhereinafter.

Mounted in the drum 10 in a position to discharge into the chamber 15 isa nozzle 19, which may have screw-threaded engagement with the housing14. Said nozzle forms part of the mechanism for breaking up fluid oilinto a spray or vapor and mixing air therewith. Said vaporizingmechanism, which is best illustrated in Figure 2, is indicated as awhole by the numeral 20. As illustrated, said mechanism comprises a pairof arms 21 and 22, which may be secured together in parallel relation.Of these arms, the one indicated by the numeral 21 is designed to admitoil and for this purpose is provided at the bottom thereof with an inlet23. The inflow of oil is controlled by means of a needle valve 24 whichis mounted on the screwthreaded stem 25 and which is manually controlledby means of the hand wheel 26.

The arm 22 serves as means for admittin v air and is provided with aninlet port 2 which communicates with a chamber 28, eX- tendinglongitudinally of the arm 22. Mounted for reciprocating movement withinthe arm 22 is a tube 29, which is adapted to carry oil. Communicatingwith the needle valve 24 of the arm 21 is the pipe connection 30 whichprovides communication for oil from the inlet port 23 through the tube31 to the tube 29. It will be understood, of

y course, that the two sections 31 of tubing will be connected together.

Air which is admitted to the port 27 may pass downwardly through nozzle19 into the combustion chamber 15 and has another means of exit throughthe pipe 32, which communicates with the longitudinal chamber 28 at apoint which may conveniently be above the inlet port 27. Said pipe 32communicates p with the side of the drum 10 and provides a supply of airfor the purpose which will be described hereinafter. The tube 29 hasadjustably mounted thereon the sliding member 33, which forms a closelit within the vided in a number of planes.

chamber in the arm 22. Said sliding member 33 forms a closure for theopening of pipe 32 and controls the supply of air through said pipe 32.The tube 29 is provided with a contracted end portion 34, which isadapted to cooperate with the wall of nozzle 19 to 'vary the area of theoutlet port for the air flowing downwardly through chamber 28; Movementof the tube 29 will therefore govern the How of air through both thenozzle 19 and the pipe 32. The tube 29 is provided with a collar 35,which cooperates with a nut 36 within the arm 22. Said nut 36 has alongitudinally extending shank 37, which forms the support for a gear38. Rotation of said gear 38 operates through nut 36 and collar 35 toeffect Vertical movement of the tube 29. The stem 25, which controls theflow of oil is provided with a gear 39, said gears 38 and 39 beingconnected together through an idler pinion 40, which pinion 40 isresiliently held in position to engage the two gears 38 and 39 by thespring 41. Independent adjustment of stem 25 and tube 29 may beaccomplished by raising the pinion 40 against the tension of spring 41,thereby permitting the rotation of gear 38 or gear 39 independently ofthe other. lVhen the correct ratio between the supply of oil and thesupply of air has been determined and the stem 25 and tube 29 have beenproperly set, the gears 38 and 39 will be connected together by means ofpinion 40 and this ratio of oil to air will be maintained regardless ofchanges in the total amount of oil and air being supplied to thegasifier. Relative adjustments of stem 25 and tube 29 may be necessarywhen changes are made in the fuel oil supplied to the gasifier.

Air which passes from the chamber 28 through pipe 32 to the drum 10 willbe admitted to the combustion chamber through the orifices 42 andorifices 43. nly a few oriices are illustrated in -Figure 3, but it willbe understood that other orifices will be pro- Said orifices 42 and 43will preferably have a direction whereby jets emitted from said orificesinto the combustion chamber 15 will set up a tangential or swirlingmovement to fluid within said combustion chamber 15. It will be noted inFigure 3, that the neck between combustion chamber 15 and superheatingchamber 16 is not symmetrical with 4combustion chamber 15, but is soformed that it directs fluid from combustion chamber 15 downwardly intosaid superheating chamber 16. As illustrated, flames emitted inwardlyfrom orifices 42, will set up a swirling movement in the chamber 15 in acounterclockwise direction. This swirling movement will be aided by etsemitted inwardly from orifices 43, the latter mentioned ets also tendingto force the gases down into the superheating chamber 16. rllhe walls of'superheating chamber 16 are curved to cause the gases to be diverteddown toward the baffle plate 18. The gases do not other preferred meansand combustion at a high temperature will occur. Only a limited come incontact with any sharp corners and in f supply of air will be admitted,suflicient for passing around said bafiie plate, are still furtherm1xed. Located below the bafile plate 18 is the outlet 44, through whichthe fixed gases may be led ofi:I to burners, reservoirs or otherdevices.

In starting the above described mechanism for gasifying functions, thespray of oil mixed with air may be ignited in any preferred way. InFigures 1 and 3, a spark plug 45 isfprovided for this purpose. Insteadof a spark plug an ordinary taper may be used. Figure 4 illustrates astructure having a hole 46 which may receive a spark plug, a taper orany other igniting means. Said hole 46 is provided with a closure member47 which may be removably held in place by means ofthe yoke 48 and thescrew-threaded member 49.

The numeral 50 indicates a sight tube communicating with the combustionchamber 15.

Said sight tube 50 is provided with a mica window 51 through which 'thecombustion within chamber 15 (Fig. 3) may be observed. Said window 51may be provideduwith a cover 52, which may be removably held in place bymeans of the yoke 53 and screw-threaded member 54.

Brieiy reviewing the mode of operation of the above described embodimentof the present invention, it may be stated that liquid fuel is admittedthrough the port 23, and air is admitted through the port 27 (Figure 2).The correct ratio between the flow of liquid fuel and air may beadjusted by throwing the pinion 40 out of mesh with gears 38 and 39 andmoving said gears independently of one another until the correct ratiois obtained. Said pinion 4() may then be permitted to snap back intomesh with the gears 38 and 39, whereby to provide unitary control forboth liquid fuel and air. Liquid fuel will pass from port 23 past needlevalve 24 into tube 31, thence through tube 29 to the nozzle 19. Air fromthe port 27 will also issue from nozzle 19 and will cause the liquidfuel to assume the form of an atomized stream projected from Said nozzle19 into the combustion chamber 15 (Figure 3). Not only will air pass to'the nozzle 19, but will also pass through the pipe 32, which iscontrolled by the sliding member 33. The pi e 32 will lead air to thedrum 10, where s'aid air will be admitted to the combustion chamber 15through orifices 42 and orifices 43. The jets issuing from theseorifices will act as fluid baffles preventing the spray projectedfromihe nozzle 19 from impinging directly upon any solid wall. The airin said jets unites with the superficial portion of the stream to form acombustible mixture within the combustion chamber 15 and secondarychamber 16 which is ignited by means of the spark plug 45, or

combining. with the superficial part of the stream of atomized fuel. Theheat generated by the combustion -of the air and said part .of the fuel,will vgasify the remainder of said fuel and fix said gas. Due to thecontour of the housing 14 and the action of the jets issuing fromorifices 42 and orifices 43, the mixture of air and fluid fuel will becaused to take a circuitous or swirling motion resulting in the completecommingling of oil and. fuel. Combustion will be with a blue flame,leaving no deposit of carbon.

The fact that a blue flame, indicating perfect combustion, is maintainedin the presence of a superabundance of gas, should be particularlynoted. A reasonable explanation for this phenomenon seems to be that assoon as the gasiier is heated, the product issuing from nozzle 19 isprojected throughout the entire combustion chamber and the air jets,issuing at low velocity relatively to the velocity of the stream issuingfrom the nozzle 19, from apertures 42 and 43 combine at once with thesuperficial portions of said product resulting in a blue flame.

The air admitted through the apertures 42 and 43 unites with thesuperficial portion of the stream of atomized oil and air to form acombustible mixture around the core of the stream, the core of thestream being non-combustiblebecause of insufficient air. The core of thestream projected from the nozzle 19 is therefore surrounded by anenvelope of fiume whereby it is vaporized and gasified. 'Ihe velocity offlow of the stream may be greater than the rate of liame propagation,but due to the fact that the air supply through the orifices 42 and 43,is at a lower rate of flow than the rate of flame propagation,combustion is maintained in the space surrounding the stream whichignites the outer layer ofthe stream even when the velocity of thestream is greater than the rate of flame propagation.

There is no deposit of carbon or soot due to the fact that if some ofthe carbon and hydrogen bonds should break down, the products ofcombustion will form a mixture with the released carbon, so that theproducts of combustion serve as a conveyor for the released carbon, thuskeeping it in a suspended state.

One apparatus for practicing the present invention has been described indetail. Many modifications will occur to those skilled in the art. It isintended in this application to cover all modifications of my improvedprocess that fall within the scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the UnitedStates, is z 1. The method of converting a liquid fuel the spray togasify the remaining portion of the spray.

2. The method of converting a heavy liquid fuel into .a combustible gas,which consists in causing said fuel to form a downwardly directed spraywith a limited amount of air, igniting a portion of the spray, andimparting a swirling movement thereto to cause heat from the combustionthereof to gasify the remainder of said spra 3. The method of convertlnga heavy liquid fuel into a combustible gas, which consists of causinglsaid fuel to take the form of a spray wit having inner and outer zones,directing opposed extraneous jets of air against said4 spray to promotecombustion of the outer zone thereof, and igniting the outer zone tothereb gasify the inner zone of said spray. 4. T e method of convertinga liquid fuel into a combustible gas, which consists of projecting saidfuel in the form of a spray mixed with air into a chamber, preventingsaid spray from impinging directly on a wall of said chamber by means ofjets of fluid in different planes transverse to the spray which direct aart of said spray into a circuitous path, and)igniting and burning apart of the spray to gasify the remainder of the spray. 5. The method ofconverting a liquid fuel into a combustible gas, which consists ofprojecting a s rayed mixtureof oil and air and directing t e course ofsaid mixture by means of a series of transverse fluid balileslongitudinally arranged along the course of said mixture, and i itingand burning a part of said sprayed mlxture to gasify the remainder ofsaid mixture.

6. The rocess of converting a liquid fuel into a com ustible gas whichcomprises forming a stream of oil atomized with air comrlsing a core anda superficial portion, subjecting the superficial portion o said streamto transverse streams of secondar air to unite therewith to form acombustible mixture around the core of said stream, and ignitair mixedtherewith, said spray erating heat thereby to convert the unconsumed oilparticles into a gas of predetermined fixation.

.8. The process of converting a fluid fuel into a combustible gas whichcomprises projecting a maizi stream of air and 011, implnging againstsaid stream secondary air jets at lower elocity, igniting the mixtureformed by aid vsecondary air and the impinged portion of the stream toconsume part of the ste'am with a blue flame, and generating heatthereby. to convert the rest of the stream into a combustible gas.

9. The process of converting a fluid fuel into a combustible fixed gaswhich comprises forming a stream of air and atomized oil, predeterminingand simultaneousl synchronizing the proportions of air an oil accordingto the desired degree of fixation, subjecting the outer portion of saidstream to suicient air to form a combustible mixture therewith, andigniting said combustible mixture to gasify the unconsumed portion ofsaid stream.

10. The method of converting a liquid fuel into gas, which consists ofprojecting said fuel in the form of a spray mixed with air into achamber, subjectlng'a portion of said spray adjacent its projection intothe chamber to transversely directed combustion supporting fluid, andigniting said portion of said spray to gasify the remainder of saidspray.

11. A 'process of converting a liquid fuel into a combustible gascomprising projecting a main stream of air and atomized oil at avelocity higher than the rate of llame propagation, impinging thereontransverse secondary air jets at a velocity lower than the rate of flamepropagation to maintain com.- bustion, and igniting and burnin the mix-4ture formed by the secondary a1r and the ortion of the stream in theform impinged ame to gasify the remaining part ofabue of said stream.

12. The process of converting a fluid vfuel into a combustible gas,which comprises forming a stream of oil atomized by auf, igniting aportion of said stream to gasify the unconsumed portion of said stream,and varying the volume of air and oil according to the volume ofcombustible gas desired while maintaining the relative proportions ofair and oil.

13. The process of converting a liquid fuel into 'a combustible gas,which comprises forming a stream of oil atomized with air, subjectlngthe superficial portion of said stream to secondary air to unitetherewith to form a combustible mixture, igniting said combustiblemixture to gasifythe atomized stream, and varying the volumes of primaryair, oil and secondary air in synchronized roportions according to thevolume of comustible gas desired.

14. The method of converting a liquid fuel into a combustible gas, whichconsists of supplying fuel atomized by air through a nozzle projectingrinto e chamber, und 1gniting a portion of utomized fuel surrounding saidinlet nozzle to convert the remaining portion of said ntomized fuel intoa. combustible gas.

Signed at New York,' N. Y., this 22nd day of July, 1921.

GEORGE L. REICHHELM.

